


Babysitting

by Adi_Beau



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Family Feels, Found Family, adoption sorta, rated T because swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-06-27 15:40:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19793905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adi_Beau/pseuds/Adi_Beau
Summary: Out here in Traverse Town, you find a lot of people who have no families or homes to go back to. But who would have expected such a small child to wind up there on her own? And of all people, Cid is the one who finds her. A curious little girl dropped in during the heartless takeover in Radiant Garden, she has nothing left and no one to care for her. Guess that means someone's gonna have to keep an eye out for her, even if he isn't all that excited to.What if Xion wasn't a replica? What if she was her own person before becoming a Nobody? Here's yet another AU where we see how that pans out.





	1. Chapter 1

Cid's POV

I really hate babysitting.

I don't have anything against kids. I don't have a reason to. But the idea of being responsible for them when they're already a lot of work makes me not wanna have to be the guy to say “I messed up.” It's messy. You make one bad move and that kid grows up remembering it for the rest of their life. I don't have time for that. I don't have the energy for that. Kids are the future but it sure is easy to ruin their lives and ensure they don't even want a future.

So imagine my surprise when I step out of my new shop and I see a little girl just snoozin’ away, leaning on the wall of the building.

This was already an issue. I had _just_ moved into Traverse Town. It was the middle of the night. I only stepped out for a cigarette and now I was staring at a little kid who somehow fell asleep outside. I didn't know who she could belong to, I barely knew anyone. For all I know, she could be homeless. And leaving her there wouldn't really be the smart thing to do since I don't even know what the people in this town are like.

“... Hey,” I called out, getting nothing in response. “Hey! Kid!” Still nothing. “Fer cryin’ out loud…”

I knelt down next to her, wondering why such a little tike was out here all on her own. She couldn't be much older than six and even _that_ seemed like a stretch. Her overalls were _covered_ in dirt and little locks of black hair were matted to her forehead with sweat. She had a cut on her left cheek and a scraped up knee.

Deciding that I'd have to try again, I reached out to shake her shoulder. She jumped, big blue eyes opening up and gazing up at me in confusion.

“Hey,” I said again. “You uh… Shouldn't be alone out here. Where's your parents?”

“....” She looked down at her lap. Her little hands balled up into fists and they started to shake. Tears were rolling down her cheeks.

Shit.

“H-hey now, don’t start cryin’ on me!”

She looked right at me. Her eyes were… Piercing.

“....” She opened her mouth to speak before she just gave up on that, looking back down. She couldn't bring herself to say it.

“... Are they gone?”

She nodded.

“Well….” I looked away, not wanting to stare down a crying kid like this was some kind of interrogation. “Do you know anyone who can help ya?”

“... no.”

“Are you from… Somewhere else?” I looked over at her again to see her nodding in response. “.... Somewhere far away?” She nodded again. Well, shit. She's like me, then. ‘Cept I'm already an adult. This kid… She's on her own and she barely knows anything about anything.

It was already too late at night for me to find her a place to stay and, again, I barely knew the area myself. Leaving this kid on her own was probably out of the question, though. Which means…

“What's your name?” I asked.

“.... Ino,” she said quietly.

“Ino…” I nodded. “Well, Ino… I'm Cid.” She slowly blinked at me. “I uh… I don't have much, but… The mogs are lettin’ me sleep in their store upstairs until I can get myself a real place to stay. Do you maybe… Wanna sleep up there for the night? Then maybe we can look into gettin’ you some help in the mornin’.”

“.... I…” She rubbed her eyes, sniffling. “I can't stay with strangers…”

“Kid, it's either me or some other random person who sees you sleepin’ out here. Everyone here is a stranger. Do you really wanna take your chances?”

“.....” She shook her head. “You promise you won't do anything bad?”

“.....” I wanted to laugh. What counted as bad to this kid? I wasn't really the _best_ person to be around but I'm sure anything I did couldn't be that harmful, right? And for one night, I could probably keep that promise easy. I nodded. “Promise.”

She held out her pinky towards me. “Pinky promise?”

I had to force myself to not laugh again. Giving her the most serious look I could manage, I locked my pinky with hers and nodded. “I won't hurt ya.”

She seemed satisfied with this. A big, bright smile replaced her sullen expression from before as she pulled her hand away. “Okay,” she said.

I let out a sigh of relief. I'm sure glad some creep didn't come across her before I did. “Alright, then…” I held out a hand and helped her up. She dusted herself off, as if that would really do much. “This way. Come on.”

I led her inside and up a ladder to the shop the Mogs had closed down temporarily. They need more materials to open up shop and I needed a place to stay. It was as fair as it could be, I guess. On the floor was a big mat and some blankets with a pillow at the top.

“It ain't much, but… Get comfortable. We'll go into town tomorrow and we can find ya somewhere better.”

She nodded, lying down under the covers and closing her eyes. She was out in a matter of seconds. I ended up laying on the floor next to her. It took me a but longer to fall asleep. Kids usually wake up early so that might be a bit of an issue, but… It could be worse.

I didn't really know what I was gonna do, though. I sounded like I had a plan, but I didn't. I obviously couldn't keep her. And I'm sure if I asked around, _someone_ might help. But there was no knowing how long that would actually take. And what if it took longer than a day? Was I just gonna have to watch her until then?

Somehow I was suddenly in charge of whatever happened to this kid next. What if she ends up living with some weirdo? Or if no one takes her at all? Then what? How do you care for a kid you don't even know? I'm barely in my 20s, how am I supposed to know what kids need? It's not like I'm exactly good material for a father. And what if I somehow fuck things up and she grows up into a bad kid? What if she hated me? Why the hell was this my job? Could I do everything she needed me to do? Was I just overthinking it?

I _really_ hate babysitting.

But… I guess I don't have much of a choice. For her sake, I guess can make an exception.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time I woke up, the old grandfather clock that stood in a corner in the room I was in said it was already noon. Which meant I slept in. Which wasn't the end of the world, but it might slow me down a bit.

Still a little groggy, I looked over at Ino who was practically buried under the blanket. I reached over to wake her up, only to feel the blanket flatten under my hand.

“... Ino?”

No response. I pulled the blanket up to see that she was gone. The lump was, in fact, a pillow.

“Well, shit…”

I'm sure she was just downstairs. Kid probably got bored waiting for me to get up. Sighing, I stood up, stretched out my back until I heard a few pops, then went downstairs.

“Hey, kid! Get enough sleep?”

No response.

“Ino…?” I looked around, checking every little corner and space that she might be hiding away in for whatever reason. No one was there. Shit shit shit _shitshitshit._ Alright, now was the time to panic. I ran over to the front door, pushing it open. “Ino!”

“You should be more careful, Cid,” a familiar voice called out. I looked over to see… Squall of all people. He was sitting on a bench in front of the shop. Ino was next to him with her nose buried in some old, dusty book. “You left the shop open and this kid was all by herself reading in a corner.”

“.....” I was still waking up and there were a few things I was trying to process. So, being the genius that I am, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “When did you get to Traverse Town, Squall?”

He looked back at me with a frown before turning his head back around. I walked over to them, Squall watching the kid as he spoke.

“I go by Leon here. “

“... okay but why?”

“It doesn't matter why. Just don't call me Squall.”

“.....”

“And I got here last night.” He turned his head to look at me. “But that's beside the point. Why was this little girl all alone in _your_ shop?”

“She wasn't before!” I looked over at Ino. “Kid, why didn't you just wake me?”

“.....” She looked up at me and blinked. “It's still night time.”

“.....” I sighed. “It's always night time here… This world don't have a sun.”

“Oh…”

“Which means it’s not her fault,” Squall- or Leon, I guess- countered with a glare. “Why are you holding onto a kid anyways? I thought you hated kids?”

“I never said that! I said I never _wanted_ kids! There's a huge difference!” I shook my head. “And, uh… Well…” I shrugged. “I found her last night just sleepin’ outside… She had nowhere else to go, so.. I was gonna look around town and see if I could find her a place to stay.”

“A place to stay?” He rose a brow.

“Yeah.”

“Cid, she's _five._ What do you mean ‘a place to stay?’”

“I-”

“You mean someone to hand her off to?” He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyebrows at me.

“Well… Yeah, actually! There has to be some place she can go! Somewhere with an actual bed and food and other stuff! Why are you givin’ me such a hard time about this?!”

“Force of habit, I guess…” He smiled. “Why don’t I take her to see the others?”

“Others?”

He nodded. “Aerith and Yuffie are here, too. We're staying at an inn over in District 2.”

“By yourselves?!”

He nodded. “Yeah? And?”

“Sq- Leon! You're all _kids!”_

“I'm old enough to be on my own.”

“You're _fifteen!”_

“Which is a good enough age to get a job.”

“With a twelve and six year old?!” This guy was nuts!

“It's not like we had a lot of options, Cid!” he yelled at me. “The inn is free for us because everyone feels bad! We have a place to bathe and sleep and a place for the girls to stay while I work!” He looked away. “I'm sure a place like this has at least one place for orphaned kids to stay… But I'm not handing them over just like that.”

“That's stubborn _and_ stupid.”

“We'll be fine.”

“Leon…” I leaned forward, hands on my hips. “Look at me.”

He very slowly moved his head to look at me. “What?”

“I'm twenty-four, Leon. And I barely manage on my own. How in the hell do you think you're gonna be able to keep everything together on your own?”

“...... Well I don't see _you_ volunteering to help, _old man.”_

I shook my head with a sigh, my hand moving down my face. “This is ridiculous…”

“Whatever…” He stood up, looking over at Ino. “Come on. I'll show you the girls I mentioned earlier.”

Ino nodded, standing up and closing the book before holding it out for me to take. “Here you go. This is yours.”

I grabbed it and looked at the cover. What was a five-year-old doing reading about synthesizing materials?

“.... Were you able to understand this?”

She shrugged. “A little.”

Leon started to walk away, Ino following after him. “You coming or not, old man?”

“Pain in the ass…”

I of course ended up following them around. On the way to the Inn, we passed by a few different shops. Though about halfway through our walk, Ino stopped to stare at one of them, eyes wide and mouth practically open. Upon further inspection, it was a bookstore.

“... You like reading, Ino?”

“Mhm…” From the corner of my eye I could see her nodding.

“.... Hey, Leon.”

“Yeah?” He made his way back over to us.

“Mind if we stop here first?”

“I guess it couldn't hurt…”

“Alright…” I put a hand on Ino's shoulder. “Come on, kid. Let's get ya somethin’ to read that actually makes sense.”

She whipped her head up to look at me. “R-really?”

“Yeah, really. Hurry up before I change my mind.”

Her face lit up immediately and she gave me the biggest grin. “Okay!” She ran inside without another word.

“She's interesting,” Leon said as we followed her in.

“Guess so…” I shrugged. Ino was already running through the aisles on her own so I decided I might as well just wait for her. I found a nice little spot on the floor and sat down.

“So…” Leon said, sitting next to me.

“So?”

“What made you wanna help her?”

“Well, like I said… Kid has nowhere to go. No parents. No home. What was I supposed to do? Leave her outside to freeze to death? In a world with no sunlight?”

He nodded. “What if you can't find anyone to take care of her?”

“I… honestly? I dunno… I haven't been able to figure that out.”

“Then what's _likely_ to happen?”

“Whattaya mean?”

“I mean…” He turned to face me. “Looking at it realistically… What if no one wants her? What if there isn't a place that can take her in? You just gonna tell her she's out of luck and send her on her way?”

“Of course not!”

“So you'll take care of her?”

“Hell no!”

“Then where will she go?”

“I dunno! I'll figure it out!”

“.....” He looked off to the side. Following his gaze, I could see Ino, still grinning her little head off as she pulled out book after book to check each one out, putting some back while putting the others into little separate stacks as if sorting them out.

“... Cid,” Leon said, drawing my attention back to him. “What exactly are you afraid of here?”

“Afraid of?”

“Yeah. You clearly wanna help her. So why are you so quick to say no?”

“...” I sighed, leaning back against the wall behind me. “I'm not exactly perfect parent material, Leon. You know that.”

“Neither am I.”

“...”

“You think I'm not scared?” He looked me dead in the eye. “I haven't been able to sleep since we got here. I don't know what I'm doing!” He looked down at the floor. “... But I knew that I was the only thing they had left… So I decided I would take care of things… For Aerith and Yuffie.”

“Leon…”

“You have to think of what comes next. For _her_ sake.”

“I know…” I found myself looking down, too. “Damn it…”

Things were silent for a few moments. I knew he was right. I knew I was just thinking about myself. What was I gonna do? I'd probably have no choice but to take her in if there isn't anywhere else. I hated to admit that he was right, but he was. But it was… Kinda scary. What if I mess things up? What if I hurt her? What if she doesn't even _want_ to stay with me?

“... If it helps… I know you can do it," he said, as if having read my mind.

“... Do what?”

“Whatever you need to do… Whatever you think is best…” He shrugged. “You're a bit of an idiot, but… I've seen you get through worse.”

“...” I looked over at him. Hearing that made my shoulders sag a little. I didn't realize how tense I was until then. I decided I'd ignore his insult just this once. “Thank you.”

“Don't mention it…”

I looked over at the kid who was still busy at work, picking out what she liked and mouthing little things to herself.

“Geez…” I said, my hand moving to the back of my neck. “She sure doesn't waste any time… Not even five minutes and she's already halfway through a bookshelf.”

“Yeah…” He looked back at me. “Hey, Cid.”

“Huh?”

“You're smiling. That's pretty rare.”

“... Shut up, smart ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So chapter 2 is out!! I really wanted to make a second chapter for this and was kinda struggling with where to take it. It ended differently than I initially planned but I'm pretty happy with it and I feel like writing out two separate drafts for this chapter really helped me out! :D Also, I know I'm off on Cid's age. I was referencing ff7 when I looked up his age, not realizing that he'd be like a whole ten years older in KH. I kinda decided to stick to him being in his 20s around this time though since I already had that in mind for plot reasons. I know 30s isn't old, but I also feel like Cid would feel more like the "shit what am I doing" type of adult if he was in his 20s instead and that's the original angle I was going for.
> 
> Anyways! Thank you guys so much for reading this far! Let me know what you think of it so far and what you look forward to possibly seeing in the future! Or anything else. I like seeing how people react to what I write. c:

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyy. So I just keep writing out new AU ideas before attempting to finish any of my fics. And they're always inspired by the ideas of others, this one being no different.
> 
> So Xiolette on tumblr originally had the idea for Xion being a Nobody but when someone sent them an anon asking about who she was before, things weren't developed yet and they said anyone was welcome to help out with that. Xiolette has, since then, developed this idea with their own original ideas and while I adore what they have going on with her, I wanted to have fun with my own version of this. I think the only idea they kept from my initial suggestion was her being a refugee out in Traverse Town so hopefully this won't feel too much like I'm copying them since I don't plan on making this the same as their au. I just like the idea of it and I wanted to try my own hand at writing a fic for this specific au.
> 
> One day I will have a completely original idea for an AU.
> 
> But until then, I'll just hope that zillychu and xiolette don't take offense to me writing fics inspired by their works. And of course, I am not all saying that I think my idea is better. I love their direction with things! I just had an idea and really wanted to run with that instead, ya know?
> 
> Anyways thanks for reading, guys! I look forward to creating more content for y'all in the future!


End file.
